My Nephilim Occult RPing Blog

In this post I wanted to discuss some ideas for handling Lunar Entropy, a fifth Khaiba form in which the Nephilim is gradually corrupted by the Black Moon. (This post assumes that Khaiba forms are persistent and noted on the character sheet, rather than determined randomly when the PC suffers a Khaiba episode.)  While Onirim are the most sensitive to it, Lunar Entropy can strike any Nephilim. While the vulnerability scales with the Nephilim’s own Moon-Ka, even a Cruxim whose lunar branch was amputated by anti-lunar extremists entirely is still vulnerable to it. Lunar Entropy points may accrued from a variety of sources: performing the sacrifice ritual for a moon spell, certain fumbles on the occult sciences, casting certain spells that flirt with the darkside, being exposed to aggressive or concentrated sources of Black Moon-Ka… Once it has asserted itself as their persistent Khaiba form, anything that aggravates Khaiba will progress it. When contaminated, the motes of Black Moon-K...

This idea was inspired by a conversation on discord. I was chatting with someone who criticized the backstory about how the Saurians awakened the Kaïm by creating the Black Moon. His argument was that it took agency and focus away from the title characters of the game. So that was his justification for removing the Saurians entirely. I disagreed, so I quickly thought of a way to reconcile our opposing viewpoints. What if the Saurians were actually a type of Nephilim? A type of Onirim dragon? This would allow them to stay, while putting the focus back on the Nephilim. So my idea is that Saurians were an early evolution of Kaïm, specifically the old race of dragons: lunar dragons. They had a pentacle of five Ka-elements, but Moon-Ka was hypertrophied and eclipsed the other branches, a ka-imbalance typical of dragons. This meant it was easy to confuse them as beings of purely Moon-Ka, even while they manipulated all the magic fields to create their civilization. The Saurians were the firs...

The rules for Narcosis underwent a number of revisions in the French version. For my own campaigns, I wanted to have some guidelines for handling this. While this post won't provide detailed rules, I will go over my ideas so far. Progression of Narcosis Narcosis actually has two stages progression: crystallization and anchorage. Furthermore, the effects of anchorage vary depending on whether the Nephilim is incarnate or not. A paredrus outside of a human body, and unable to return to stasis, is subject to crystallization. The exact cause is unknown, but some suspect it is an immune response to the trace amounts of Orichalc present in all the magic fields. Its Ka-elements retract and contract, like Sektet, eventually rendering it unable to move. At this point, the paredrus enters Narcosis shock and anchorage begins.  Once fully crystalized, the paredrus' Ka-elements bleed into and gradually merge with the surrounding magic fields, a process known as encysting or fossilizing. Thi...

In most editions of Nephilim , the Selenim are relegated to membership in the Unnamed Arcanum. In third edition, however, this changed. The Unnamed Arcanum was formally rechristened as "Rebirth", accepting only Immortals whose Dominant Ka was Black Moon: Selenim and Ar-Kaïm of Serpentarius. Meanwhile, it was explained that the other Major Arcana were not limited to Nephilim: they could theoretically accept Selenim and Ar-Kaïm. This is a bombshell revelation that raises numerous questions. Of particular interest: how can Selenim contribute as members of the other Arcana if they cannot practice the elemental Occult Sciences of the Nephilim? Well, I had a few ideas of my own regarding that. In the US Major Arcana book, it is mentioned that Selenim can learn certain Arcane Techniques like The Emperor's Thes and The High Priestess' Shemmut. A number of the Arcane Techniques do not seem to rely on particular elemental spells and could perhaps be adapted for Selenim use. But...

The origins of the Nephilim have been subject to various revisions and retcons over the course of the game's editions and adaptations. In the first edition, French and English, it was mentioned in passing that new Nephilim could be born from Nexuses. In the English version, it is assumed that a Nephilim's first incarnation occurs shortly after the Nephilim was born from the magic fields. In the second edition, French only, it was clarified that all Nephilim were former KaIm. After the Fall of Atlantis, no Nephilim were ever born again. Instead, the beings born from Nexuses are "astrological Nephilim" who lack pentacles and incorporate Orichalc into their essence. In the third edition, French only, the astrological Nephilim were named Ar-KaIm. Furthermore, it was established that "natural Selenim" were born on the astral plane and incarnated in passing dreamers, bypassing existence as Nephilim entirely. Incidentally, Nephilim disembodied on the astral plane c...